The Underground Museum

Leave it to Pasadena sisters Susan Cherney and Wendy Moss, founders of Inside the Story, to invite us to an underground museum. Or, more accurately, the Underground Museum.

The Underground Museum was established in 2012 by the late artist Noah Davis and his wife, artist Karen Davis. The goal: Display museum-quality work in their Arlington Heights storefront.

Initially, no institution would lend to them given the museum’s low budget, lack of security and big front windows. Eventually, the Underground Museum was discovered by MOCA curator Helen Molesworth, who laid the groundwork for the current show, for which MOCA lent several works.

Art critic Christopher Knight describes the exhibition as a “elegiac tone poem spoken in visual shades of black.” The show is that rare combination of art that seduces the eye with its beauty and also speaks loudly to the heart and mind of the viewer.

The eight artists in the show include Kara Walker, who is represented by a five-part etching of antebellum depravity played out in silhouette figures, Kerry James Marshall, Robert Gober, Henry Taylor, and David Hammons, considered to be one of America’s greatest living artists. His spectacular sculpture, “In the Hood (Gray),” will remain with you for a long time after leaving the museum.—InsideTheStory.com

On April 14, Inside the Story invites you on a tour of the Underground Museum and the exhibit “Non-Fiction” led by artist Sarah Jones. Space is limited and from our experience, ITS events tend to sell out. Reserve your spot asap.